In the following pages you'll find summaries of a variety of techniques designed to help your child learn to sleep through the night. If one works for you, bravo! If it doesn't, use trial and error to develop a system that you and your baby can live with. Don't be afraid to modify the experts' suggestions. Don't worry that you must stay with whatever strategy you choose. You may find that the method you used for your first child is completely ineffective for your second.

There are a few rules that many — but not all — of these programs share. If you don't want to go all the way with any one approach, you might start with these elements as you work out a system of your own:

• Try to put your baby down to sleep when she is drowsy but awake.

• This may teach her to put herself back to sleep when she wakes up.

• Establish a pre-bed ritual and don't vary from it. For example, you might have bath time, then read a book(s), and sing a few songs or lullabies. Whatever the ritual, your child will associate these steps with bedtime.

• Get your baby attached to a “lovey,” also known as a “transitional object.” The idea here is that the baby will look for the lovey when she wants to calm down. Some people question whether you want your baby to bond with you, the mother, or with a stuffed yellow duck. The truth is that children understand the difference between their mom and a toy, and lovies are a reminder of the reassurance and love that you provide.

• Don't rush in at the first sound your baby makes. Often she will fall back asleep on her own.

And there is always one other option: don't do anything. Your baby will eventually sleep through the night — at least some time before she's a teenager, at which point your problem will be dragging her out of bed before noon.